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Best Antivirus?

Z

Zawmbeez

Member
My family is going to be getting a new computer soon. It's going to need an antivirus. We have McAfee on the current computer, and its alright but it slows down a lot of tasks. And when its scanning nothing can be done.

In an effort to find something reliable I've come across VIPRE. Have you ever had any experience with it? They claim its protection is comparable to major names and that it doesn't slow down the computer. I'm wondering if their claims are true.

If I do get it, should I get the basic 'AntiVirus + AntiSpyware' or should I add the firewall?

Any experience with VIPRE? Is it good?
 
I've heard of Vipre, but never used it. I wouldn't bother with the firewall. Windows built in firewall is fine. If it were me, I'd just use MSE and call it a day. It's easy to use, performs well, and is free.
 
I use free comodo (firewall only) and scan occasionally with Malwarebytres and Spybot S&D. This combo has worked for years for me.
 
Have you heard good things about it?

That's what I was thinking. I can't see it having anything more then the windows firewall.

You're probably right about MSE, but convincing my parents to not buy an antivirus would be hard.
 
If I were to pay for a product, I'd get Avira Premium(not the suite). I use the free edition, and am completely happy with it.
 
There is no best Antivirus. I tried a lot of them even VIPRE. You should first decide on one that has all the features you want. Then make sure it has good enough scan stats and if it does use that antivirus.

Though there is a best way to secure your computer. That is with a layered approach. Keyword being layered. Always have more than one defense. How well it works depends on how far you want to go.
 
I'm tempted to say that the best antivirus is a disallowed-by-default Software Restriction Policy plus a non-Admin user account. Or if it's a Home version of Windows, use Parental Controls instead of SRP. The stopping power is huge, it takes no appreciable computer power at all, and you can still add an antivirus program of your choice (mine would be MSE).
 
mechBgon said:
I'm tempted to say that the best antivirus is a disallowed-by-default Software Restriction Policy plus a non-Admin user account. Or if it's a Home version of Windows, use Parental Controls instead of SRP. The stopping power is huge, it takes no appreciable computer power at all, and you can still add an antivirus program of your choice (mine would be MSE).
Click to expand...

Yeah I would have to agree. The more you lock down a pc the better chances it has. Having this as the last level of defense is perfect! Like you said as well a layered approach is key! That way if something does get through there still one or two more layers it must infiltrate.
 
agreed. MSE rocs for the cost. it's got the largest footprint of all AV products and has been around for years (MART).

Forefront has some wierd issues i've noticed so i bounce to SEP for corporate usage (50+ machines) - while SEP small business has dialed in the size of the management servers it still is too much for small business.

Maybe microsoft will make a cloud based management tool for MSE for small businesses up to 50 users and charge little - that would be nice.

I really really like the SEP feature that blocks in/outbound email so if you are turned into a mailbot - your machine will self-destruct on its own. This is a pain point for MSE imo.
 
shortylickens said:
So is Avira no longer the cool thing to have?
Click to expand...

It's cool for me. I prefer it over MSE do to better control over what it does. MSE is best suited to your mom's computer, where you can set it, and it won't do anything to confuse her. It's detections are pretty good, but manual controls are a bit lacking.
 
I currently use vipre and love it. I have the non premium version, the one without the firewall. I haven't noticed any slow downs what so ever. Scan times can be slow but I usually have it run around 2am so it doesnt bother me.
 
I've done most AVs, but the new version of Norton 2011 has really impressed me after couple months of use. Very quick, lightweight, and good GUI... this after getting a virus using avira......
 
I've been using AVG (free edition) for years and haven't had much issue. The full scan does soak up cpu cycles but you can schedule it. For spyware, I've been using adaware.
 
As has been said before, MSE is a good choice. Free, light on the resources, and Microsoft knows windows better than other companies. However, nothing can replace practicing safe computer (internet / email) use.
 
DLimmer said:
As has been said before, MSE is a good choice. Free, light on the resources, and Microsoft knows windows better than other companies. However, nothing can replace practicing safe computer (internet / email) use.
Click to expand...

While I support safe browsing/email habits, I'd rate the non-Admin/SRP combo as a much more effective mitigation strategy, if I had to choose just one. I used to collect malware from the wild, which requires very UNsafe habits, but SRP has never let me down.

More than half the malicious websites out there are normally-safe sites that I might visit without suspecting a risk. In fact, when I was a sysadmin, our own website got hax0red (along with thousands of others being hosted by our hosting company). And guess what site I'd set as our browser homepage...? Yeah. 😵 So every time an employee opened a browser, they got attacked. Time for Plan B 😀
 
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